Catalytic Oxidation of Mixed Wastes Containing High Organic Content—Emission Reduction and the Effect of Steam

Abstract

To resolve mixed organic and radioactive waste disposal problems, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) initiated a treatability study using the catalytic chemical oxidation (CCO) system to oxidize a mixed-waste stream and to confine tritium as part of LBNL's pollution prevention program. LBNL has also adopted a legal approach by seeking an equivalent waste-treatment determination for the CCO process, and by petitioning the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delist F-coded treatment residues. The results of this study demonstrate that (1) the CCO process can treat aqueous wastes containing a broad range of organic chemicals and achieve more than 99.999% destruction efficiency; (2) greater than 99.9% trapping efficiency for tritiated water can be achieved using an emission-reduction system that also confines the vapor of hydrochloric acid or nitric acid to the liquid residue; and (3) neutralized treatment residues can be disposed of as low-level radioactive waste at a permitted facility after EPA has approved LBNL's petitions, or the tritium in the residues can be recycled. The high oxidation efficiency of the CCO process is mainly due to the optimized operating conditions of the CCO process and the combined effect of steam reforming in the oxidation cell and the catalytic oxidation of organic mixtures and CO in the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst bed.

Experimental design of application of nanoscale iron–nickel under sonication and static magnetic field for mixed waste remediation

“…Although incineration can accomplish these objectives, it poses some formidable problems, including release of acid gases (NOx and SOx), formation of chlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans, and release of radioactive fly-ash, which can be hard to control [15]. Other techniques for organic pollutants destruction include chemical oxidation/reduction technologies, electrochemical oxidation/reduction, biological processes, photolytic degradation, degradation using zerovalent iron and degradation based on Fenton reaction [16][17][18][19].…”